Tuesday July 14
Left Liberal, KS with the intent of getting as close as possible to Durango, CO so I could ride the million dollar Highway up to Ouray. GPS said 507 miles to go. Most days I ride around 300 miles so I knew I would only get so far. I started at 10am and it was 86° and remarkably comfortable. I had all my gear on. It got to 91 and couldn’t believe it was still so much cooler than previous days, and no, I’m not kidding. I left Kansas and in 20 minutes was back in Oklahoma. This state is so long and I was crossing it at the widest portion. The first few hours into Oklahoma from Arkansas was scenic and varied, then most of it was exactly what I dreaded, long, flat and hot. At one point
I was going 90mph and passed a cop going the other way. I thought I was caught but he never came after me. I kept going fast to escape this state. I passed another one and thought now I am screwed. I saw his lights come on, but he never turned after me. 30 more miles and I was out of Oklahoma, but I had to get gas, plenty of time for them to catch up to me. I felt like I was in the gumball rally. I can’t believe I escaped capture twice!
Eventually I crossed into the corner of New Mexico and Texas. The landscape changed to some mountain like terrain and was a welcome change. I was getting excited for Colorado and the mountains.
I got to Colorado and the skies darkened as quickly as the elevation changed. Minutes into the state and days of obscene heat and sun were replaced with slight rain and cooler temps. It went from 90 to 70 instantly and felt great. There was thunder and lighting in the distance and I put on the rain gear. It was very unsettling driving into a rainstorm that I saw from miles away, and on curving mountain roads. I didn’t want my leather gloves to get soaked so I took them off and couldn’t get to the water proof ones buried in my bags. The temp dropped to 55°as the wall of rain found me. My hands felt like they were being torn apart by glass chards. The wind took over when the rain started and stayed when there was no rain. The sun was back but I didn’t dare remove the suit. Good thing because about 30 mins later it was on again. I held the course as there was no place to hide. After about 400 miles I stopped in Alamosa, Colorado and bearly got a room. I guess they sell out all the hotels and motels in the whole town. I cleaned up and went to the San iguezo brewing co., where I talked with a pro golfer for a while about my motorcycle trip, and travel in the US in general. I also talked to another motorcyclist that came up from Albuquerque for a bit.
Day’s travel = 370 miles.